


Dandelion

by Mirrored_Illusions



Series: 2020 August Fic-A-Day [5]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Criminal Minds (US TV), Stargate SG-1
Genre: 2020 August Fic-A-Day, Alternate Reality, Crossover, Dimension Travel, Gen, Handwavy Science, Medical Inaccuracies, Past Jack O'Neill/Sara O'Neill - Freeform, Post-Episode: s05e22 The Gift, Timeline What Timeline, Twisting The Hellmouth Fic-a-Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25867441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirrored_Illusions/pseuds/Mirrored_Illusions
Summary: Buffy jumps into Glory's portal to close it and land in a back alley somewhere else.
Series: 2020 August Fic-A-Day [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860277
Comments: 3
Kudos: 55
Collections: TwistedShorts





	1. Dandelion

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: BtVS: Post-The Gift, later seasons for CM, and not decided for SG1.  
> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse, the Criminal Mind 'verse, and the Stargate 'verse all belong to people who are not yours truly.  
> Author's Note: Written for Day 12 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.  
> A/N: Mixing a few tropes here, but hey, we're doing crossovers here. ;)

The last thing Buffy remembered was falling through Glorificus' interdimensional portal and then everything went black. Despite everything it had been peaceful, waking up was anything but.  
  
Disorientation was only part of it. For one, when she managed to open her eyes, she realized she was in a back alley instead of a large backlot at the foot of a highly unstable structure. There was no tower, just a couple of dumpsters. There were also several corpses of what looked like young women around her age.  
  
The pain was another. Her entire body ached. The ground smelled like rain-wet tarmac and newly-spilled blood with added assorted trash, but the blood wasn't hers. She hurt, but her skin hadn't been broken, she was sure of that.  
  
Everything was hazy and the blaring sirens in the distance didn't help matters at all. The last thing she saw before blacking out again was several police cruises and two ambulances arriving at the scene.  
  
\-----  
  
Buffy slowly regained consciousness, and the first thing she heard was the regular beeping of the heart monitor, followed by other hospital machinery. The next was the squeaky noise of hospital shoes walking outside her room some distance away, followed by the breathing of a person close to her bed.  
  
She guessed the person was female and most likely lost in her thoughts as she wasn't moving much. Anything else she heard was hospital-related and muted in a way it only got when it was late at night. Cracking her eyelids up just enough to see a sliver confirmed her suspicions as the room was mostly dark. The only light came from the moon outside and, to a lesser degree, the artificial light from the hallway.  
  
The person in the chair was a woman, a 30'ish blonde who was absently watching the view out the window. A slow and careful look around the room proved there was no one else. There was no sign of Willow, Xander, Giles, Tara, Dawn, or even Faith or Spike. The blonde wasn't someone she recognized.  
  
Buffy soon slid into a peaceful, restoratory sleep without her guard noticing her guardee had been conscious at all.  
  
\-----  
  
When Buffy opened her eyes the next time she almost immediately got eye contact with a dark-complexed woman who was studying her carefully. She blinked.  
  
"Good morning, Miss O'Neill. You have been missed."  
  
Buffy blinked again, this time in confusion before attempting to speak. The woman quickly got a glass of water from a table beside the bed and placed the straw close to her mouth so she could get rid of the dryness.  
  
After drinking and swallowing a few times, she tried again. "My name isn't O'Neill. Who are you and where am I?"  
  
The stranger frowned. "I'm Dr. Tara Lewis, and I work for the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. We're at St. John's Hospital in Tampa, Florida."  
  
It was Buffy's turn to frown. How did she get to Tampa? "Your parents are flying in from Colorado and are expected to land in a few hours."  
  
She sat up, both in an attempt to clear her head but also because it felt weird laying down when there was a stranger beside her bed. "My name isn't O'Neill," she repeated. "And my parents aren't in Colorado. My mom's dead, and I don't know where my dad is." Italy, maybe? Without getting a hold of him or knowing the people around him it was difficult to keep track. Especially when her life was so chaotic.  
  
Dr. Lewis's face changed from a frown to sympathy. "Your name is Elizabeth O'Neill. Your parents are Jack and Sara O'Neill." She shook her head deliberately, that wasn't right.  
  
"What do you believe your name is? And what do you believe the name of your parents are?" Dr. Lewis asked, changing tactics.  
  
"My name is Buffy Summers. My mother's name was Joyce Summers, and my father's name is Henry Summers." Then, more as an afterthought, she added, "I'm from California, not Colorado."  
  
"While Buffy is a rare diminutive form of Elizabeth, there are no signs anyone has ever called you that. Your parents referred to you as Beth."  
  
Buffy sighed, frustrated. "I'm not imagining this. There's nothing wrong with my memory."  
  
"It's okay, Elizabeth. You've gone through long, traumatic captivity, I'm sure your real memories will return in time." Buffy was certain the woman meant well, but she wasn't helping. Yes, everything with Glory had been traumatic, but somehow she didn't think that was what the profiler was referring to at all.  
  
Dr. Lewis rose and smoothed out her outfit. "I'll go and find your doctor and then see if you can't get some breakfast. Buffy politely agreed, more so the Federal Agent would leave the room and give her some space, but she wasn't paying attention. A clock on the opposite wall declared the time to be just before six AM.  
  
What had happened? By all accounts, she should be dead. Her death closed the tearing in reality's fabric, fixing what Glory, Doc, and their minions had tried to achieve. Instead, she was in Tampa where the FBI seemed to be under the impression she'd been held in captivity somewhere. Her friends were nowhere near and nothing was familiar at all.  
  
She fell asleep again before anyone returned. Clearly, her body needed a lot of rest to heal itself.  
  
\------  
  
When she woke a couple of hours later the blonde was back and paying much closer attention to her.  
  
"Good morning, Miss O'Neill. I'm SSA Jennifer Jareau with the BAU, you spoke briefly with a colleague of mine, Dr. Lewis, earlier."   
  
Agent Jareau handed her a glass of water and waited for her to take a sip before replying. "Right. The one who thinks I've got amnesia."  
  
An eyebrow lifted slightly, "You don't believe you do? There are no holes in your memory, no lost time?"  
  
"No. I'm in the wrong state with people I don't know, claiming I'm someone I'm not, but other than that my memory works perfectly."  
  
"What is the last thing you remember?"  
  
She heard her own voice as she saw her little sister in her mind's eye. _Dawn, the hardest thing in this world... is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me._  
  
Buffy suppressed the memory so she could deal with it later privately. "Talking to my sister, and then falling off a rickety tower." The best way to lie is to keep it as close to the truth as possible, or that's what Spike had told her once when they had discussed how badly she lied.  
  
"Dr. Rees did say you had injuries consistent with a high fall within the last few months, and they are healing well." Concerned blue eyes met Buffy's hazel green ones. "Is that the last you remember?"  
  
"Kind of." She quickly sorted through the truth to find an acceptable lie. Or something close enough. "I remember falling, everything going black, then a back alley with dead people and emergency personnel, blackness again, and then I was here."  
  
It was true except for the part where she didn't mention she had made a running jump off of the tower so her sister wouldn't have to die, and she could save the world one last time. Telling the nice agent that would probably have gotten her forced sessions with a psychologist.  
  
On second thought, those sessions might still happen, depending on what they believed had happened to her. Both women had carefully avoided telling her that.  
  
Those blue eyes widened and she became more intense as she leaned forward a little. "Do you remember seeing anyone else in the alley?"  
  
Buffy shook her head lightly. "Just the bodies. Then I passed out as the police and medics arrived."  
  
"Did you see or hear the person who called 911?"  
  
"No, but I could hear the sirens when I woke."  
  
If it hadn't been for her enhanced vision then she was sure she would've missed the microexpressions on the agent's face, but there was definite disappointment there.  
  
"What is it the FBI think happened to me?" No special abilities were needed this time, Agent Jareau tensed, clearly hoping she wouldn't ask just that question. Then she collected herself and began speaking in a more professional voice than before.  
  
"The BAU was asked to help with a kidnapper and serial rapist who has been active in the area for at least four years. As you went missing in Colorado you were not suspected to be one of his victims."   
  
She could feel her heart rate go up, even though she knew she wasn't a victim. "I've never been raped, and I've never been kidnapped either." Demons and the undead didn't count, kidnapping and attempting to kill her was part of their M.O.  
  
"Dr. Rees did say your test came back negative for sexual assault and abuse. But she did note that the injuries from the fall should've been fatal." At least they agreed on something. Any wounds, cuts, or bruises she gained during her patrols and other fights healed overnight or within a week at the most. So there was nothing to find, excluding a few old scars she hoped no one here would ask about.  
  
Outside the room and further down the hall, she could hear an authoritative male voice demanding to see his daughter, Elizabeth O'Neill. A lower, female voice was just as urgent. From the sounds of it, they were being stopped by two male agents at the nurses station.  
  
"Does Dr. Rees believe I'm a victim of the man you're after?"  
  
"No," Agent Jareau simply said.  
  
"Do you believe I'm a victim of the man you're after?"  
  
"No," she repeated. "But I do believe you know more than you're telling me."  
  
"All I know about this is what you have told me, and what I briefly saw in the alley. I'm no help to you."  
  
Outside the room, the couple had gotten louder and much closer. Close enough for Agent Jareau to hear them and get up from her chair. "Excuse me, I need to deal with this."  
  
'This' being her presumed parents apparently, and their desire to see her for themselves. Belatedly, she realized she had no idea when Elizabeth had gone missing, what date today was, or how closely she resembled the missing woman. What she did know was that the O'Neill's were going to be very disappointed when they finally got to meet her.


	2. I Am Not Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen, later seasons for CM, and not decided for SG1.  
> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse, the Criminal Mind 'verse, and the Stargate 'verse all belong to people who are not yours truly.  
> Author's Note: Written for Day 13 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.  
> A/N: Lots of handwaving here, so suspend your disbelief.

Agent Jareau didn't get very far from Buffy's hospital room, just far enough that a normal person would only have heard indistinctive voices but been unable to pick out any words. Buffy, however, having enhanced senses, heard everything as clearly as if the conversation had taken place right beside her bed.  
  
"Easy, Jack." An older man said, attempting to sound soothing. "There are a few things you need to know before you go in there."  
  
"My daughter is in there!" Probably Jack O'Neill protested in an agitated voice.  
  
"She claims she's not," Dr. Lewis interjected before her teammate got the chance.  
  
"She's awake?" Another female voice, a hopeful one, most likely the missus.  
  
"She is," Agent Jareau confirmed. "But she keeps denying that her name is Elizabeth O'Neill. She seems to think her name is Buffy Summers, and that her parents are Joyce and Henry Summers."   
  
The statement was followed by several sharp intakes of breath, and she was certain it wasn't just the O'Neill's.  
  
Buffy used the opportunity to get comfortable in the hospital bed. Her body was less achy this time, and it wouldn't be long before she was completely healed. That begged the question, had she been healed somehow between hitting the ground and arriving in Tampa, or did she suddenly heal even faster than before? If she had been in Sunnydale, these injuries would've taken a week at least to heal, but from her understanding, it had been about 12 hours. Unless her timing was off.  
  
"She also believes she has a sister, and that she spoke to her just before she fell."  
  
A man commented before the O'Neill's got a chance, but she heard Mrs. O'Neill abruptly inhaling again. "Swyler insisted the women call each other sisters and that they call him father. It could just be a projection or self-protection on her part."  
  
"But there's no evidence he ever had her, aside from where she was found, and he looked genuinely confused when he was shown a picture of her. Even going so far as to claim he didn't touch blondes because they were unclean and fake." That was informative of Dr. Lewis, even if it didn't explain why she had ended up in the same alley as this man's victims. Thinking back, there had been three women, two brunettes, and one with fiery red hair.  
  
The group outside spoke some more before the O'Neill's finally demanded to be let inside to talk to her.  
  
Agent Jareau was the first to enter, followed by an elder gentleman with graying hair, then another middle-aged man with graying hair, and finally a woman with short blonde hair. None of the newcomers were even remotely familiar to her.  
  
The female agent smiled at her before she began introducing the new people. "Elizabeth, this is Agent David Rossi of the BAU, and your parents, Colonel Jack O'Neill and his ex-wife, Sara O'Neill."   
  
Buffy gave all of them a polite smile, this was so going to get awkward. "Hello." She said to the new arrivals, then she turned to Agent Jareau. "I told you, my name is Buffy, not Elizabeth. People have assumed it's a nickname for Elizabeth my entire life, so you won't trigger anything but annoyance if you keeping using it."  
  
She got a slightly strained smile in reply, but at that point, Sara had reached her bed and tried to take her hand. Buffy instinctively withdrew it so the woman only touched the duvet. The middle-aged woman's face fell immediately. It took some doing, but she finally managed to get both of the supposed parents to back away from her bed. Mainly by telling them straight out that their close proximity was making her uncomfortable.  
  
The two agents had retreated to the hallway shortly after the introductions, where they had a short meeting with their teammates. The two unknown male agents and Lewis left shortly after, but Jareau and Rossi remained outside.  
  
Sara seemed to be convinced Buffy was her daughter, but Jack looked increasingly skeptical even if he tried to hide it. His eyes told her he hoped she was his, but at the same time she could see he knew she wasn't, and he didn't know how to deal with it.  
  
Breaking into the woman's attempt to convince her, she asked. "When did Elizabeth go missing? And what is today's date?" Sara's eyes became confused and she opened and closed her mouth several times but nothing came out.  
  
Beside her, Jack answered the questions. "Elizabeth went missing on September 21st, 1999. Today is May 16th, 2001." Buffy nodded, which meant it was the correct date at least. One less thing to keep straight.  
  
"Does today's date match with your memories?"  
  
"Yes. It was the 15th yesterday, so it matches."  
  
"Was May 15th the day you fell?" She gave an affirmative response. "Dr. Rees said those injuries were several months old and nearly healed."  
  
"Then explain why I was unconscious in a back alley, in a state I've never been to before." The sooner she could make him separate her from his daughter the better. Beside him, his ex-wife had begun showing the smallest hint of doubt.  
  
"Excuse me, I need a few minutes." Sara left the room and Jack gave her a concerned look as she went through the door.  
  
As soon as she was out of earshot, Buffy said, "You know I'm not your daughter, pretending for your ex-wife won't help anyone."  
  
He studied her closely for a few minutes and she managed not to squirm under the scrutiny. She couldn't even begin to imagine what he was going through. It made her heart go out to Dawn though and how she must've felt when she found out she had almost nothing but fake memories.  
  
"You could've been Elizabeth's identical twin, but your personality, self-awareness, and demeanor couldn't be more different. You behave like a seasoned soldier, one who has seen too much action and gotten little or no help to manage the consequences."   
  
This time it took effort not to squirm because that was a little too close to the truth. "I've never been to the military and I'm not a soldier." A disposable toy soldier maybe, but not what this man was implying.  
  
He kept scrutinizing her, "No, but you have seen extended action of some kind, and not what Swyler did. I bet you're a good fighter in your chosen field."  
  
She smiled reflexively in response, because, duh. Of course, she was an excellent fighter; Slayers were apex predators! Then her smile faltered. Glory hadn't managed to kill her, but her minions had made sure she had died regardless even if it was by her own hand. Different methods but the same result; dead Buffy. Or, she should've been dead, except she wasn't.  
  
"What?" The man beside her bed asked.  
  
What indeed. "The last memories I have are chaotic and not of the good." Attempting to draw his attention away from asking the obvious questions, she asked. "You're a soldier, Colonel. I'm sure you've done some research or gotten someone else to do it for you, but what made anyone think I was your daughter?"  
  
He slid a hand across his face. "Call me Jack, it's too weird for you to call me something else."  
  
"Only if you call me Buffy. The faster you stop comparing me to Elizabeth the better it will be for you to cope." After a short hesitation, he agreed. "The question still stands."  
  
This time Colonel O'Neill, no, Jack, sighed. "Dave is an old friend of mine." Off her confusion, he added. "Agent Rossi, one of the agents who came in with Sara and I. He recognized you and, knowing my daughter had been missing for two years he rushed a DNA test. It came back with a positive match just before we arrived here."  
  
It was Buffy's turn to stare. "But you believe me. You didn't lie about that."  
  
"I believe you." He affirmed. "Something weird is going on, but to try and figure it out I need you to come back with me to Colorado Springs. We have an excellent team of doctors there who can help us get to the bottom of this."  
  
Flashbacks of Maggie Walsh and her military experiments ran through her mind instantly and she tensed. "That's a negatory, I won't be anyone's science experiment!" Not happening, once was more than enough.  
  
She was saved from elaborating on her refusal to accompanying him, by the arrival of the much-talked-about Dr. Rees. Mrs. O'Neill and Agent Jareau were both following in his wake. The doctor kindly but firmly kicked everyone out of the room before he began looking her over. But the look Jack gave her before he left was clear; their talk wasn't over.


	3. Driving Miss Buffy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen, later seasons for CM, and not decided for SG1.  
> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse, the CM 'verse, and the Stargate 'verse all belong to people who are not yours truly.  
> Author's Note: Written for Day 14 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.  
> A/N: This is very rushed, so please excuse any glaring mistakes.

Dr. Rees insisted on keeping her in the hospital for another three days, but as he was unable to find anything wrong with her he was forced to sign her release papers. She was thrilled to be out of there, but after attempting to make a few sneaky phone calls to her mother, Willow, Xander, Giles, and even Cordelia and only getting strangers on the line she wasn't sure what to do. A second attempt to call other relatives got the same result.  
  
She wasn't in her own dimension or reality or whatnot, and that would quickly become a problem. Especially since the authorities insisted she was someone who was most likely dead. The scientific explanation went way over her head, especially since Willow had been high on caffeine at the time and rambling at sonic speed. But the gist of it was that two versions of the same person couldn't stay in the same reality for more than a day or two and then the universe would get upset and kill the one who didn't belong.  
  
Buffy had been here for three-four days now and she was alive and healthy as ever so that most likely meant that Elizabeth O'Neill was dead. She suspected that Jack O'Neill was aware of this as well. The man was intelligent but hid it behind a laid-back personality, much as she herself hid hers behind a dumb blonde act.  
  
It meant that when she finally escaped the hospital she had nowhere to go. It also meant she didn't have anything aside from the clothes on her back. Anything that had been in her pockets was gone.  
  
Except when she walked out the front door of the hospital a certain Colonel was waiting for her in the parking lot, calmly leaning against a dark, nondescript car. Naturally, she veered towards him. As she got closer he straightened up and greeted her.  
  
"Buffy. Need a ride?"  
  
She couldn't help but give him an amused smile in return. "Jack. I would if I had somewhere to go. Which I don't." Then, because she was finally away from the needle-happy people, she tried for levity and asked, "Does your car make a stop nowhere?"  
  
He laughed. "No, but Sara and I have rooms at a local motel. I'll rent a room for you there if you want. We can figure out where we go from there."  
  
Buffy shrugged her shoulders lightly, "It's a better option than where I expected to end up, so I'm game."  
  
"Excellent! Get in." He walked around the car and left her to get in on the other side. Once inside she fastened her seatbelt and as soon as he had his on he backed out of the parking spot, and soon they were on the road.  
  
A quick look around inside revealed it to be a rental, which made sense since he had flown in. And another thought crossed her mind. "Agent Jareau introduced you as a Colonel, but she didn't say which branch you're from."  
  
"The Air Force. I'm a pilot."  
  
She snuck a glance at him. "You must've loved getting on a place when someone else was flying it."  
  
"That better be a very sarcastic comment, missy. You don't mess with a pilot and their planes."  
  
She grinned, "Are you trying to make me believe that the Air Force lent you a plane so you could fly across the country for personal reasons?"  
  
"That would've been sweet, don't you think?" He didn't wait for a reply. "But no, we flew commercial."  
  
"Where are you stationed?"  
  
"Officially at Peterson Air Force Base outside Colorado Springs."  
  
She raised an eyebrow and she was certain he noticed in his peripheral view. "And unofficially?"  
  
Jack hesitated for a few seconds before replied. "The Cheyenne Mountain Complex."  
  
"You're one of Santa's super-secret little helpers?" That startled a laugh out of the man.  
  
"No. NORAD is in a different building a short distance away."  
  
Buffy pretended to pout a little. "That's a pity." If she had known him a little better she would've take it further, but despite everything the situation was delicate. "So if you're not helping Santa, then what are you doing in America's Fortress?"  
  
"That's classified, but I'm trying to get you clearance." That made her turn and stare at him.  
  
"Why?" She couldn't think of a single reason why anyone would allow a randomly appearing person to be given that kind of access. Especially if they believed she wasn't Elizabeth O'Neill.  
  
"Hopefully, it'll get us some answers about you." He stopped at a traffic light and used the opportunity to turn towards her. "Unless you want to tell me what you do know about how you got here?"  
  
She gave a small grimace without trying to hide it. "Even if I did try to explain it, I guarantee it isn't something you want to hear about. It also doesn't explain how I ended up here."  
  
Jack gave her a long look before the light turned green and he had to focus on the road again. "We'll get back to that when I get an answer about your clearance."  
  
The rest of the ride was spent mostly in silence.


	4. Not-So-Fake I.D.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: BtVS: Post-The Gift, later seasons for CM, and not decided for SG1.  
> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse, the CM 'verse, and the Stargate 'verse all belong to people who are not yours truly.  
> Author's Note: Written for Day 15 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.  
> A/N: This is very rushed, so please excuse any glaring mistakes.

Buffy started the morning with an hour of Tai-Chi, more as an exercise than meditation. It had been nearly a week since she had been able to fight anything and she was getting a little antsy. Four days in the hospital was a lot longer than she normally stayed, mainly because Sunnydale was used to strange people and even stranger demands.  
  
If she'd been at home she could've at least run it off, but there were too many unknowns and too large a risk of someone seeing something they shouldn't. Hence, Tai-chi.  
  
When Jack came out just after 7 am she was doing very, very slow breathing exercises to improve her balance and focus. Normally she would've skipped it and simply done the normal katas, but she needed to use her body and with no one to fight, and no other way to use all of her excess energy, it would have to do.  
  
As she slowly and precisely moved through the last few poses she returned to where she had begun and opened her eyes. As she knew from listening to her environment, Jack was standing off to the side of her improvised dojo and observed her.  
  
"Good morning, Jack. Did you sleep well?" She gave him a relaxed smile. The katas had helped, but it had barely taken the edge off. She needed to use her Slayer powers soon or there would be even more questions she'd rather not answer, especially not when the person most likely to ask was military.  
  
"Yeah. How long have you been doing Tai Chi?"  
  
"A few years, it's relaxing and I haven't been about to do it for a few weeks. I woke up early, so I figured I give it a try." She walked towards him. "Do you practice?"  
  
"No, but I know other people who practice something similar."  
  
Their conversation continued as they walked inside, and they conversed on safe topics all through breakfast with Sara. She excused herself afterward and left to do a few errands. It wasn't until they returned to Jack's room the conversation returned to more serious topics. Attempting to avoid certain things, she began.  
  
"Do you know if they return everything to me at the hospital? Dr. Rees didn't know, and I'm certain I had my wallet on me when I came here."  
  
The guarded look was back in Jack's eyes and he indicated for her to sit down while he went to fetch something from his bag.  
  
"Dave gave me this after we first met at the hospital." He handed her her wallet. "He swiped it from you while you were unconscious. The original intent was to check for confirmation of identification or other evidence, but when he opened it and saw what he thought to be a fake I.D. he withheld it."  
  
Both of Buffy's eyebrows went up. "A Federal agent took evidence and gave it to someone, not in the FBI? Pretty sure that's illegal, too."  
  
"It is," the man confirmed. "But he assumed you'd been kidnapped and the fake I.D. was something you'd been forced to use. But when they checked it, it didn't lead anywhere logical. The social security number leads to someone unrelated to either the Swyler case or Elizabeth's disappearance. Your credit cards lead to other people's accounts. There were no hits on any of the people you have pictures of."   
  
At the last part, she quickly opened the wallet and checked to make sure all the pictures were still there. They were. They were out of order but intact. A folded picture from before her parents divorced, mystically edited to include Dawn. A picture of her and Dawn with their mother, taken shortly before Joyce had died. A lovey-dovey snapshot of her and Angel. And the last one was of her with Willow and Xander from the summer before, celebrating surviving their first year of college.  
  
Once she had made sure her only link to her dimension was still there, she checked her driver's license and other cards along with the other bits and bobs that had ended up in there. A soft smile lingered on her lips as she studied the photographs again. It was all she had now.  
  
"Those people are your family and friends?"  
  
She nodded before giving a verbal reply. "My parents, little sister, and my two best friends."  
  
"You were right, Sara and I look nothing like them." Buffy didn't argue the point, as they both knew it was true.  
  
"Is there some way to have me legally separated from Elizabeth? I am not her, and she isn't me. I won't use her identity."  
  
She heard his heart rate go up, but didn't acknowledge it. This was too important.  
  
"We need more proof that you're not her before we can start that process, especially since there's a DNA test confirming you to be Elizabeth. But yes, it's possible."   
  
"The DNA test results don't make sense. I'm not adopted and I'm not from this dimension, so that shouldn't be possible." Unless the Powers That Be had done something. She frowned, it would be just like them to take advantage of the situation to get her to do something they wanted without asking first.  
  
"Brighter minds than ours will get to the bottom of it when we get to Colorado, but for now we'll have to wait." He changed positions to get more comfortable. "Dave and JJ will be here later to ask you some more questions about, well, anything you know about Swyler and check to see if you remember anything from being Elizabeth."  
  
"That's a no to both. Everyone knows more about Swyler and his victims than I do, and I'm still not Elizabeth. So it's a waste of time for them to come here."  
  
Jack nodded, "I know, but they need to be thorough. I'm a high-ranking officer in a highly-classified program, and they're a part of an elite team of profilers. People would start asking questions if they just let it go, especially since they suspect you to have Stockholm Syndrome or something like it."  
  
Then she rewound the conversation a little, "Who's JJ?" She didn't remember anyone called that, but then, names were not her strongest thing.   
  
"Agent Jennifer Jareau."  
  
"Ah." Buffy liked her when she didn't treat her with pity.  
  
A knock sounded from the door and Jack went to answer it. She already knew who it was, having memorized her steps at the hospital. Soon after Sara stepped into the room looking determined.  
  
They'd had an awkward confrontation the night before, where Buffy had made it crystal clear she was not this woman's daughter, that there was no chance of Buffy pretending to be someone else, and Sara had to stop thinking of Buffy that way. Buffy had also made it obvious that she believed the real Elizabeth to be dead and Sara needed to begin the grieving process. It could've gone much better, but apparently, they were going for round two.   
  
"Hello, El-. I mean, Buffy. I think we should try this again, would you like to go shopping? You can't keep wearing that one outfit."   
  
It wasn't an elegant attempt, but she wasn't about to turn down a shopping expedition. Particularly since Sara was right, she had the outfit she'd arrived in plus a set of left-overs a friendly nurse had given her when she'd been released.  
  
"This is going to go badly, but yes, I'd like to go shopping."  
  
She was given a tentative smile from Sara and some encouragement from Jack, and then they were off.  
  
The reprieve was only for a few hours and then she would have to face the FBI again.


	5. Cognitive Interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: BtVS: Post-The Gift, later seasons for CM, and not decided for SG1.  
> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse, the CM 'verse, and the Stargate 'verse all belong to people who are not yours truly.  
> Author's Note: Written for Day 17 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.

To Buffy's surprise, Sara O'Neill was making a real effort to treat her as a separate person, and not as if she was her daughter. She kept a close ear on the woman's heartbeat, but she was trying even if she was in pain and it hurt her to look at Buffy.  
  
By the time Buffy had found three pairs of pants; two pairs of slacks and a pair of jeans, she had told Sara about graduating high school and attending two years of college. While they selected tops and blouses she told Sara about her mother discovering she had a tumor, getting surgery to remove it, and then abruptly dying three months before.  
  
While they shopped for lingerie Sara told her about her and Jack's son accidentally killing himself with Jack's service gun several years before their daughter went missing, and how it had caused their marriage to collapse. It wasn't an appropriate place for the discussion, but comparing and contrasting her life with Sara and Elizabeth's seemed to help the other woman.  
  
It did explain why she was so desperate for Buffy to be her missing daughter. Having lost one child due to her husband's careless handling of his weapons and then the second going missing, had to be horrific. Having a duplicate show up before she'd had a real chance to grieve had to make everything even worse.  
  
Sara told Buffy about Elizabeth and her disappearance over lunch. Her alternate had failed to return home after being out with a group of friends. Sara had been home, but Jack had been away on a mission.  
  
Elizabeth's fashion style had been more conservative, leaning toward preppy and floral patterns and high necks. While Buffy loved short skirts, leather pants, and sleeveless tops. It wasn't to say she didn't own any dresses with floral prints, because she did, but it wasn't her normal style. Too messy to fight in.  
  
After lunch they finally got around to the part she had been looking forward to since she'd been asked to go shopping; shoes! As the pair of ankle boots she had arrived in were still in working order, Sara ended up buying her a pair of casual flats on sale.  
  
As soon as they had gotten into the car at the motel, Sara had told her she and Jack would pay for a new small wardrobe for her and if she came back to Colorado with them they would help her apply for either college, a job, or both. The clothes were a gift, not a loan or a bribe as neither of them wanted her to simply wear the one outfit she'd worn to the hospital plus the clothes from the hospital's leftover pile. She had put up a reflexive defense, but Sara was right, she didn't have anything to pay with and the little money left in her wallet was unlikely to be valid.  
  
The last things on Sara's list was a travel bag, a make-up bag, basic make-up, and other toiletries. It would have to do until she got money of her own, but only having the basics wasn't going to be fun.  
  
As soon as she entered her motel room she began removing the tags from her new clothes and then placed them in the dresser. The BAU agents would be here soon and she would rather be done with this before that. The knock on the door came when she was almost done placing her new toiletries in the small bathroom. Putting on a little extra speed she left the few last things a little haphazardly and threw away the remaining litter all the new things had caused.  
  
Then she hurried to the door and opened it before they got too impatient. "Good afternoon, agents." She smiled and moved backward as she took the door with her, allowing them to enter.  
  
"Good afternoon, Miss O'Neill." Agent Rossi replied as he came inside.  
  
Buffy did not attempt to hide her exasperated sigh. "It's Miss Summers. If you refuse to believe me at least pretend or call me Buffy. It's jarring and rude of you to use someone else's name. Both of the O'Neill's call me Buffy so you can, too."  
  
A pair of bushy eyebrows went up for a few seconds, "Okay, Buffy, then."  
  
Buffy smiled again, more genuinely this time, and asked them to take a seat. The room only had two chairs so she chose to sit on the bed. "I've already told you what little I remember from that night, so what can I help you with?"  
  
JJ spoke up, "We would like you to go through all of it again, but we're going to use something called a cognitive interview to see if you remember anything else. Okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Good. Close your eyes and focus on my voice." Buffy got more comfortable and then closed her eyes and relaxed.  
  
"Think back, what was the first thing you remember from when you woke up in the alley?"  
  
She wrinkled her forehead in concentration for a second. "Several loud sirens heading in my direction."  
  
"Were your eyes open or closed?"  
  
"Closed."   
  
"Did you open your eyes right away or did you keep listening to your surroundings?"  
  
"I kept them closed, trying to orient myself by sound and smell."  
  
"Very good," Agent Jareau replied in an even voice. "What did you smell and did you hear anything else?"  
  
"I smelled trash, wet tarmac, and fresh blood. There were cars driving in both directions not far away. I opened my eyes when I smelled the blood because I was certain it wasn't mine and I wanted to see who was hurt."   
  
"What did you see?"  
  
"Three women. Two brunettes and a redhead. One of the brunettes had her head turned toward me with empty eyes staring at me, but I could see someone had slit the throat of the redhead." She examined the memory more closely in her mind's eye. "There were a couple of dumpsters, but nothing else. It was pretty well-kept for a back alley."   
  
"Did you see or hear any people?"  
  
"No, just the traffic." She frowned again, "Several ambulances and police cars came right before everything went black.   
  
"What about phones, radios, TV's?"  
  
She thought about it, but there was nothing like that. "No. I was only conscious for a couple of minutes at the most and then I blacked out."   
  
"Okay, thank you."  
  
Buffy opened her eyes again, "I'm sorry I'm not able to help you. I just, I don't know how I got there, and I've never even heard of Swyler."  
  
"It's okay, "Agent Rossi added. "Whatever caused your fall might've scrambled your memories."  
  
"If that's the case, then why do I remember the back alley so clearly? Why do I remember being in California and not Florida? Jack and I compared notes and the dates line up; I fell on the 15th and I woke up in the hospital on the 16th. There can't have been more than 10 hours between me falling and waking up in the alley."  
  
"We don't know. Your part of the case doesn't add up at all. Your fake I.D. and the counterfeit money in your wallet is even stranger since our forensics team claims they're legit but the information on them is fake. The money is legal but there are some strange inaccuracies."  
  
Agent Rossi gave her a searching look, "Your driver's license says you live in a town called Sunnydale, in California, but there's no place with that name. There has never been a town in the United States with that name."   
  
It was more evidence she had fallen down the rabbit hole and wasn't getting up again anytime soon, if ever. "It isn't far from Santa Barbara, and about an hour away from Los Angeles."   
  
"Yeah, we checked that and it adds up with the area we came up with when we searched for the postal code. There's no town there. A few Native American tribes lived there a long time ago, as did Spanish Franciscans, but there have never been any towns in that particular area."   
  
"We contacted the local police in Santa Barbara and asked them to send someone to check it out for recent developments or anyone staying there," Agent Jareau added. "But there's nothing."  
  
Both of them were looking at her expectantly, but what was she supposed to say? That she had made it all up? That, someone, had made her a fake I.D. with her address being a non-existent town?  
  
"None of this makes any sense."  
  
"There isn't anyone in California or the rest of the US called Buffy Summers, Elizabeth Summers, or any other variation of that name matching your description and age."   
  
"Really, guys. I don't know."  
  
"Are you going to become Elizabeth O'Neill?" Yeah, she was certain that David Rossi didn't like her, and the way he asked that question confirmed it for her.  
  
"No," she replied promptly. "Jack wants me to come to Colorado with him and Sara so they can do some more tests there, and if they get the results they want he'll help me fix my identity so I'm not using his daughters."   
  
"And you have agreed to that?"  
  
She grimaced. "I'm still thinking about it. Not so fond of doctors and scientists, or being used as an experiment, but if it'll prove I'm not Elizabeth O'Neill then I'll do it." Supersecret military bases gave her the creeps after the Initiative fiasco, and knowing they were going to run tests on her wasn't helping.  
  
Not that they were going to find much of anything. Her body had healed fully and she was healthy, although that would probably raise questions. There were no tests to prove the existence of her powers unless they ran her through something similar to what the Initiative had done to see how fast she could run, how hard she could hit, and so on.  
  
"But I have nowhere to go, and they've promised to help if I go with them. So, probably." Sharing DNA with these people couldn't be an accident, and that meant that the PTB wanted her somewhere close to the O'Neill's.  
  
"Right," Agent Rossi rose. "We'll be in touch, so don't leave Tampa just yet."  
  
"Okidokie. I'll be here."  
  
The agents said their goodbyes and Buffy was left alone with her thoughts. Restless, she went outside to the small patch of grass and began doing katas again. She needed to clear her head and the repetitive motions helped.


	6. Slayer Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: BtVS: Post-The Gift, later seasons for CM, and not decided for SG1.  
> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse, the CM 'verse, and the Stargate 'verse belong to other people.  
> Author's Note: Written for Day 18 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.  
> A/N: Any suggestions on where to place this in SG-1?  
> A/N 2: With this chapter, I have officially passed my word count for the 2020 GYWO! :D

That night Buffy had a Slayer Dream for the first time since arriving wherever she had landed after jumping into Glory's interdimensional portal. She knew it was a dream because she was back in her house on Revello Drive and it looked exactly the way it had when she had left it. Right down to the dirty clothes she had forgotten to throw in the hamper.  
  
She couldn't see or hear anyone so she walked out of her bedroom and peeked into the master bedroom and Dawn's bedroom. Not seeing anyone, she continued down the stairs and through the foyer while taking a quick look into the dining room on the right and the living room on the left. No one was there either so she continued walking down the hallway and into the sitting room where she suddenly saw her mother.  
  
Joyce Summers was sitting on the couch but rose as soon as she saw her daughter entering the room. "Buffy!" She smiled and opened her arms for a hug, and Buffy happily obliged. Carefully moderating the strength of her embrace so she wouldn't harm her mother.  
  
"Mom! What are you doing in my Slayer Dream? What's going on? I love you." She was rambling but seeing her mother took some of the weight of her shoulders. She was an adult, but her mother was a safe and familiar haven in the middle of it all no matter how old she was.  
  
"I love you, too. But you need to calm down, we don't have a lot of time. Come, sit down, we need to talk."  
  
"Uh oh," Buffy replied, only half-joking, but she sat down beside her mother. Her mother gave her a small comforting smile.  
  
"I know you're confused about why you're alive and not dead, and what's going on. So let me explain. Okay?"  
  
"Okay. Explanations would be of the good. Cause nothing makes sense and there are a lot of people asking me questions I can't answer."  
  
"I know, and there are reasons for that, but I can't tell you everything. Just some of it and I can give you a few hints of what the Powers That Be did and why you're here and not in Heaven where you're supposed to be."  
  
Buffy flinched a little as caution returned. "Are you my mom or just something wearing her face?"  
  
"I'm your mother, Buffy. They sent me both as a reward and because they believe you'd be more likely to listen to me. Something about you threatening a messenger demon with bodily harm?" Joyce raised an eyebrow and Buffy shrugged a little sheepishly.  
  
"He was annoying and kept talking in riddles."  
  
"I'll try to not do that, but there are some things you need to figure out yourself. I had to promise Them to be vague on some issues."  
  
Buffy got more comfortable on the couch as she took her mother's hand in hers. "Okay. Hit me with it. What did the Powers That Suck do and why am I wherever they sent me?"  
  
"What you have to understand is that you were supposed to be killed by the Master back in 1997 and stay dead. I'm very happy you came back, but when Xander revived you he disrupted the magic surrounding the traditional Slayer Line. Two active Slayers slowly caused chaos and allowed an entity called The First Evil to breach the barrier between the dimensions.  
  
"When you jumped into Glory's portal to close it in 2001 the magic began healing itself and The First's access to our dimension was closing again, but then your friends resurrected you, mostly for selfish reasons, and it slowly began gaining access again." Buffy frowned but refrained from speaking when her mother gave her a look.  
  
"Over the next two years you went through a depression, you became suicidal at times, and you acted irrationally on occasion." Buffy gasped and put her hands over her mouth to stop herself from asking any questions. "Over that last year, The First's followers began killing off all the Potential Slayers they could get access to and the Council of Watchers tried to send the ones they knew about or could find to you for protection."  
  
"The Council doing something smart? That's rare. Or more likely, they were just trying to protect themselves. No Slayer Line, no Slayer, and that equals all around badness."  
  
"You're probably right. A house full of girls caused friction and escalated an already tenuous situation, and bad things were happening both inside the house and outside. In the end, you and your friends found a way to activate all of the Potentials, Angel gave you an amulet that caused Sunnydale to fall into a crater. It also closed the Sunnydale Hellmouth for the next millennia."  
  
"I'm sensing a lack of very ugly details," Buffy commented.  
  
"You don't need the details, sweetheart. It won't happen this time."   
  
"Why not? If they resurrect me, it will."  
  
"No," Joyce said firmly. "A decade after all the Potentials were activated the balance was all but destroyed. And there were nearly 2,000 of you, not about 200 as the Council had believed. Magic, demons, all of it was public knowledge. Slayers and teenage girls who were suspected of being Slayers could legally be killed on sight. Vampires were popular and people were lining up to be allowed to feed them, and begging to be turned. Demons of all shapes and sizes were walking the streets. It was extremely bad, Buffy."  
  
Buffy couldn't do more than stare. What?  
  
"On the tenth anniversary, the Powers That Be and the Senior Partners got together and rewound time. Don't ask me about the details, because I don't know. The deal was to bring everything back to the status quo, but for that to happen you needed to be removed." Buffy instantly glared, not so much at her mother, although she was on the receiving end since she was the only other person there, but at the injustice of that.  
  
"Why? I was only doing what they wanted me to do!"  
  
"Don't yell at me, young lady!" Her mother counteracted sternly.  
  
"Sorry," Buffy apologized in a lower voice. "But why did they have to 'remove' me?"  
  
"They wouldn't say, but I got the impression you're a much better Slayer than they expected and it caused the scale to tip too far on the side of good." She gave her daughter a gentle smile, "The Balance is fragile but it needs to be maintained."  
  
"Great." Buffy pouted, "But why not send me to Heaven? Why send me here?"  
  
"Each side has its champions, and I guess they believe you can do some good there."  
  
"That's it? No plan, just a 'Let's drop Buffy in another reality and see what she does?'"  
  
Joyce gently squeezed her hand, "No, of course not. They have a plan. A vague one."  
  
Buffy stared, "A vague plan? Their plans are always vague."  
  
"True. But they don't have any control where you are, and it's a different dimension, by the way. It doesn't have magic per se, but something like it. More advanced technology and species who have evolved in different ways than humans. I'm not sure how to explain it without revealing too much."  
  
Both of Buffy's eyebrows went up in confusion and curiosity. "You can't give me more details about the differences?"  
  
"No, I'm sorry. But, I can give you some hints."  
  
"Do tell, dear mother."  
  
"Jack O'Neill is a good man and you can trust him, but try to avoid telling him about the supernatural if you can. Make it seem like you either don't know where your abilities come from or that they're the result of you being experimented on. The Initiative should work if you need something close to the truth.  
  
"You can also trust the female doctor who will do the tests on you in Colorado. She'll be discreet and do her best to keep you away from those who'll want to experiment on you."   
  
"Not making make want to go there, mom."  
  
"Have a little faith in the system, Buffy. Most of the people on the super-secret project are good people, and I'm sure you'll be able to find out who's who. Once you've graduated from a university you'll be able to join full time. But Buffy," and this time the look she got was more direct. "Please change your major to linguistics, or make it a double major. Your time researching demons and apocalypses has given you a much better understanding of the old languages and alphabets than you think."  
  
Buffy wrinkled her nose cutely. "Why? I don't see the military needing someone to translate demonic texts."  
  
"Not demonic texts, no. But there are a lot of old languages involved, and if I might come with a suggestion?"  
  
"Of course! Suggest away. Suggestions are of the good."  
  
"Studying the old alphabets, particularly the Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Norse runes, could be beneficial to you."  
  
"Okay. I'm sensing a theme but not the connection to the Air Force."   
  
Her mother looked apologetic, "I can't tell you where the connection is, but Colonel O'Neill will tell you later. Your clearance has gone through, so all they need to do is get the FBI to stop trying to get more information out of you and allow you to leave Florida."  
  
"Okay, fine. Be with the vagueness. Why does the DNA test say I'm the daughter of Jack and Sara?" That had been bugging her a lot since she found out about it. It was a weird inconsistency.  
  
Instead of an explanation, she got another apologetic look. "I can't tell you that either, but it will become apparent in a few years. Just know that I believe you'll find the door it opens for you to be very exciting."   
  
"Okay..." She drew out the word slowly, hoping to extract more information, but it didn't work.  
  
"What about Dawn, Willow, Xander, Giles, Tara, and Anya?" Then as more of an afterthought, "And Faith, are they going to let her out of prison so she can commence with the Slayage?"  
  
Joyce closed her eyes for a few moments. "Dawn was turned back into the Key when you went through the portal. Any memories of her were modified as if she never existed. Your friends believe the Key was inside you and you died to protect everyone. It's part of the failsafe so they won't try any resurrection rituals this time."   
  
Buffy looked down. They had given her a sister to protect and then they had taken her away as if she meant nothing. It felt like a hand was squeezing her heart. Still looking at their hands, she asked. "So the only evidence of her existing are the pictures in my wallet?"  
  
"I'm afraid so."  
  
She closed her eyes tightly, willing the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes to remain where they were. Swallowing once, she asked. "And the others?"  
  
"Tara and Willow are going to transfer to another university, Giles will go back to England, and Xander and Anya will remain in Sunnydale. At least for now."   
  
She placed a hand on Buffy's chin and pulled her close so she could cry for her little sister. Afterward, Buffy dried her eyes and centered her empties. "What about Faith?"  
  
"The Council only allowed her to live because you were doing her job and because they were uncertain if there were one or two lines now, but with you gone and her in prison they need a new Slayer. I'm sorry, Buffy, but they will kill her."   
  
Confusion showed in Buffy's eyes, "I thought it was certain the Line went through Faith. It went from me to Kendra, and then Faith."   
  
"There was a possibility it has split when you were resurrected and when you died again another Slayer would be Chosen to take your place. No one was Chosen and so they will arrange for Faith to have a fatal 'accident' in prison."  
  
Buffy sighed noisily. "This is so unfair. Why is everything falling apart over there?"  
  
"If you hadn't broken the rules then Willow would've left Sunnydale when she graduated high school, Giles would've returned to England much earlier, and Xander would've been dead. All the choices we make have consequences, Buffy. It's just the way it is."  
  
She nodded to herself, "Xander being alive is of the good. Willow has Tara because she stayed." She nodded decisively. "Okay. Yes, that's good. They're good."  
  
Joyce smiled in relief, "That's my girl. They'll be fine. You need to concentrate on yourself and your new future."   
  
Buffy became a little more uncertain. "I'm back to being all alone again." Then a thought hit her. "You said this dimension doesn't have magic, so there are no Slayers either?"  
  
"You've always gained friends easily, you'll do the same there. Just be yourself, be careful with your abilities so no one unethical finds out, and you'll be surrounded by friends in no time."  
  
"And Slayers, am I the only one?"  
  
"There are no Slayers there, but if you play your cards correctly you'll meet other people with similar abilities."  
  
Joyce looked up towards the ceiling at something only she could see for a moment. Then she got up off the couch and her daughter rose with her. "Our time is up, but I have one last thing to tell you."  
  
"I'm all ears." Buffy cocked her head to the side. "That is a stupid expression, and creepy if you think too much about it."  
  
Joyce laughed, "It is, but everyone keeps using it anyways." She became serious again. "Before the Powers That Be redirected you to that dimension they activated the full healing power. It's why it only took you two days to completely heal from a fall that by all accounts should've been fatal. They also fully activated your normal and supernatural senses. Also, they activated a semi-invisibility."  
  
Buffy perked up when she heard the last part. "Semi-invisibility? How does that work?"  
  
"If no one knows you're there you can be invisible to them, but they can still see you on surveillance. It's a trick of the eye, but it doesn't fool the technology. You can also be visible to one person but as long as they don't acknowledge your presence you'll be invisible to everyone else."  
  
"Nifty!" She grinned at all the possibilities of that particular ability. Too bad she hadn't had it before, it could've gotten her out of many scrapes.  
  
"Be careful, Buffy. It isn't foolproof. One sound and everyone might see you."  
  
"I'll be careful, mom."  
  
The lights in the room slowly began dimming. "That's the Powers That Be's not so subtle hint that we're not getting any more extensions." She opened her arms and hugged Buffy again, kissing her on the cheek. "I love you. Please take good care of yourself."   
  
Buffy hugged her back. "I love you, too." One last look at her mother and she was back in her bed in the motel.  
  
It was very, very early, but getting back to sleep wasn't an option, so she dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt Jack had gotten for her when he realized she had forgotten that during her shopping trip with Sara. She slipped on a pair of running shoes he'd also gotten her, then she went outside and stretched. It was still dark, so she decided to go for a run. If she kept to normal-ish speeds she should be okay.  
  
\----  
  
A few hours later she was back on her little patch of grass doing Tai Chi when Jack came outside as she was finishing up. "Good morning, you look serious."  
  
"Good morning, Buffy. Go shower, we need to talk over breakfast."  
  
She gave him a look but conceded the point and went to shower and change.  
  
When she arrived at their by-now usual table she found both Jack and Sara, both were about half-way through their morning meal. She got her food and began eating. It wasn't until she was almost done that Jack began speaking.  
  
"Your clearance came through, and I need an answer. Are you coming back to Colorado with us?"  
  
Her mom had said she should accept, she said they would protect her, and she said they would give her something to fight. She needed something to fight, her instincts demanded it. Staying here trying to live a normal life wouldn't help with her Slayerness. There were no demons or vampires here. Exercising would only work for so long.   
  
She looked him in the eye trying to impress on him how serious she was about this. "Yes. But I'm holding you personally responsible for making sure I don't turn into a science project or a prisoner. Or both."   
  
He looked startled. "They're only going to run some tests on you to try and figure out where you came from, not put you in a cage or study you like a wild animal." She could see it in his eyes that he had a lot of questions, but was refraining from asking them.  
  
"I've been promised that before and it didn't end well for the Army." When Jack opened his mouth to ask something she spoke over him. "Don't ask any questions about it, I won't answer. Just understand that I don't trust the military and I'm only allowing this because my options are very limited."  
  
Jack nodded, "Okay, I respect that and I accept the responsibility."  
  
The rest of her meal was eaten in silence and then they went back to their respective rooms to pack. Jack called to inform the BAU that he would be bringing her to Colorado and that they would be leaving that afternoon. She did not envy him that conversation.  
  
The flight to Colorado wasn't as comfortable as she had hoped. Jack arranged for them to hitch a ride with a military vessel and she could now say she would rather fly commercial.


	7. Denied Request

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: BtVS: Post-The Gift and not decided for SG1.  
> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse and the Stargate 'verse belong to other people.  
> Author's Note: Written for Day 20 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.

They arrived in Colorado Springs with little fanfare. Sara O'Neill was picked up by military transport and driven home. Buffy and Jack were given transport of their own and brought straight to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex where Buffy would be tested to see if she was Jack O'Neill's daughter and if she was possibly from another reality/dimension.  
  
After being brought through multiple checkpoints they entered an elevator that took them down to what Jack called Sub Level 11, where they had to get out and change to another elevator which would take them further down to Sub Level 21 where the Infirmary was located.   
  
Buffy looked around as soon as the second set of elevator doors opened. "Oh, look! More drab grey walls!"  
  
Jack smiled at her, "Yes, we had a fabulous decorator. Come on, it's this way to the needle-happy doctor."  
  
Several hallways later and they walked into the base infirmary and a short, female doctor came out of an office further in. "Hello, I'm Dr. Janet Frasier, and you must be out new mysterious guest." The doctor gave a friendly smile.  
  
"Buffy Summers. College student and interdimensional traveler, at your service." She quipped.  
  
"Okay then. I'm guessing you either have the answer to why you're here or a theory of some kind?" The red-headed woman somehow managed to usher Buffy onto one of the hospital beds and at the same time stopping Jack from asking questions and kicking him out of her domain, despite him most likely being her superior officer. Buffy liked her, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.  
  
Deciding to go for blunt while Dr. Frasier took her blood, she replied. "I know how and why I'm here, sort of, but not why I share DNA with Jack and Sara O'Neill. They're nothing like my real parents, even if they seem to think I could've been Elizabeth's identical twin."  
  
When Dr. Frasier removed the needle from her arm and was about to use a cotton swab to stop the trickle of blood she startled, and Buffy was sure she knew why even before looked at her arm. If she healed deadly injuries in under two days, then a needle prick would be healed as soon as the needle was out of her arm. The good doctor refrained from commenting though, and that meant an interrogation later.  
  
A thought just struck her, she needed to see a picture of Elizabeth O'Neill to see for herself if the physical similarities were that high. Given people's reactions to her, she most likely was a doppelganger and that could easily become a problem later on. Particularly among anyone who knew the O'Neill family.  
  
The doctor kept doing her tests as they spoke. "And how did you get here and why?"  
  
"The 'how' was a highly unstable portal or wormhole or whatever they're called. It should've either killed me or sent me somewhere extremely unpleasant, but instead, I ended up here. The 'why' part is unclear since I don't know what you're doing here."  
  
"I can't tell you that, you need clearance."  
  
"Jack said he'd gotten me clearance before we left Tampa, but he couldn't explain anything on the plane or in the car." She wanted to know, the suspense was killing her because there was no way they did normal military-type things down here. Not when the PTB had decided it was a great idea to send her here like a lost package.  
  
Dr. Frasier gave her a kind smile. "I'm sure Colonel O'Neill has a dramatic explanation in mind, so just be patient for a little while longer." There was genuine emotion in her eyes, "I promise it will be worth it."  
  
Buffy exaggerated a pout, "Fine. Be tight-lipped about the interesting stuff so you can be all doctor-y and stick me with your needles."  
  
She chuckled and continued her examination and tests. In between, they conversed and asked questions that sometimes got answered and sometimes not.  
  
\-----  
  
"According to her test results, Buffy Summers is a partial genetic match to Colonel O'Neill and his ex-wife. She also has DNA from an unknown female and an unknown male. Presumably her parents from her original reality." Dr. Frasier looked at General Hammond and all of SG-1, and Buffy. "She shows no trace of ever having been a host."  
  
"Were you able to confirm she's from an alternate reality?"  
  
"Yes, General. However, Miss Summers seems to believe she comes from an alternate dimension, although she declined to explain why." All eyes turned to Buffy, waiting for her to say something, preferably something that made the situation make sense.  
  
"Look, I know you're curious and all, but all you need to know is that I came here through a highly unstable portal, or I think the technical term is a wormhole. At least that's what a friend of mine called it once, but it doesn't matter. It was a one-time thing and it can't be replicated."  
  
"So, you're stuck here?" Asked Jack, from beside her.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"That sucks, but how do you know for sure?"  
  
"This dimension or reality or whatever, seem to be a lot like mine, but there are many unseen differences. Differences you are unlikely to have known about even if you had been there. And you don't need to know about them." She was rambling and even she knew it. "My point is, those differences are the reason I ended up here, but since you don't have those things I can't be sent back." Even if there was a Key here and the timing was right, she wouldn't have done it.  
  
Jack looked at her with suspicion, "You seem to have gotten information at some point between now and when you first got here."  
  
"I have," Buffy replied. "Don't ask about that either, it was a one-time thing and pretty vague."  
  
Everyone exchanged looks around her, but she chose to ignore it. Telling these people that her dead mother came and told her everything in a dream wasn't going to make them believe her, or see her as trustworthy. Not that the current conversation was helping.  
  
The bald man in charge found his voice first, "You seem to imply you intend to work with us?"  
  
"Yes," Buffy sighed. "My source was much with the vagueness, but it was implied that I was going to work the same place as Jack and that it would be prudent of me to change my major to linguistics. More specifically, I should study ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and Norse runes." Eyes widened all around, telling her she had hit the jackpot, so to speak.  
  
She gave all of them a searching look when no one spoke up. "Anyone want to enlighten me as to why I need to understand dead alphabets to work with the military in a bunker far, far underground?"  
  
Everyone exchanged looks again and she was starting to get a little annoyed about that but kept quiet. Super-secret, classified things always had people who could communicate like that. She'd even done it with her friends back home.  
  
Dr. Jackson had just opened his mouth to hopefully finally answer her questions when an alarm began blaring, loudly. "Unauthorized off-world activation!"  
  
Buffy grinned in amusement because that was perfect timing. "I guess that's one way to let the alien out of the bag."  
  
"Oh for cryin' out loud!"  
  
Half an hour later they were back in the conference room as it had just been a team arriving back a little early after an uneventful stroll off-world. And wasn't that just something else?  
  
"So," she began when they were back. "The United States Air Force has a doorway to other planets, and it even comes with an interplanetary doorbell."  
  
It brought laughter all around, just as she'd hoped. A little humor could go a long way.  
  
"You don't look shocked at all, Miss Summers." General Hammond commented.  
  
"Weirdness is kind of what I do. Taking a walk from a deep underground bunker and onto a whole other planet is new though. And interesting. And my source was right, I definitely want to do this!"  
  
"Getting a little ahead of yourself there, aren't you?" Dr. Jackson interjected. "You can't just come here and say you want to join a team. You need credentials and other stuff." He raised both eyebrows. "A valid identity."   
  
She sat up straighter. "I obviously don't have any paperwork, legal or illegal, but I guarantee you," and she looked at the bald general, "That I am the best fighter in here. Even against the so-not human mountain over there." And she indicated the man who had been introduced as 'Murray' at the beginning of the meeting.  
  
"What makes you think he isn't human?"  
  
"I have other abilities aside from my nifty ability to heal almost anything. Like great strength, speed, and fighting skills. I can also sense non-humans like him, even if I can't identify what he is because I have nothing to compare him with. Major Carter doesn't come off as entirely human either, but it's weaker and she doesn't have the double resonance he does."  
  
'Murray' spoke into the silence. "I am Teal'c of Chulak, a free Jaffa." He gave a partial bow while lowering his eyes in some kind of greeting, before making eye contact again. "I would be honored to test your ability as a warrior."  
  
"Excellent" She was looking forward to this, especially if he was as good a fighter as he looked. "Name the time and place and we can get to it. I've been itching for a fight since I recovered from the fall and the journey here."   
  
"Wait a minute!" General Hammond ordered from the head of the conference table. "There will be no such thing."  
  
She studied the alien who returned it in equal measure. "It's fine, general. I promise not to break him." Then she turned back to Hammond. "Maybe bruise him a little, but I'm sure he'll be fine."  
  
In her peripheral view, she saw the other four people stare at her in astonishment. Turning to them, she added innocently. "Didn't anyone tell you that size doesn't matter?"  
  
The next twenty minutes were spent arguing over her claims, whether or not she should be allowed to spar with Teal'c, and if it was responsible to allow her on a gate team without knowing much of anything about her. Their discussion was interrupted by SG-9 before anything was agreed upon. SG-9 was the team who had arrived early, and now they were ready to be debriefed.  
  
Buffy and SG-1 were ordered to leave so the general could attend to his duties.  
It left her alone with her alternate reality 'father' and his team plus the base doctor. "Any chance of that sparring match?" She asked hopefully, looking between the two women and three men. She was summarily outvoted and escorted to the guest quarters she would be occupying for the foreseeable future.  
  
Dr. Jackson followed her inside. "It was decided I should be the one who explained the Stargate and give you an overview of what's out there. The meeting with General Hammon will reconvene tomorrow."  
  
"Can I spar with Teal'c tomorrow? I meant it when I said I'm itching for a fight." He just stared at her. "Come on, Dr. Jackson. What's the worst that can happen? Dr. Fraiser knows I heal fast if he somehow manages to harm me, so that's not the issue. And I already promised not to hurt him too much."  
  
He put a hand over his face and rubbed it. "First, it's Daniel. And second, who you spar with isn't up to me."  
  
"Okay, Daniel, but you can put in a good word? I need some violence therapy and the average homo sapiens isn't going to do it for me." Buffy wrinkled her nose, that came out wrong but the man in front of her didn't seem to have noticed.  
  
"I'll try, but I won't promise anything."  
  
"Yes!" She was all smiles until he continued.  
  
"But for now you need to sit down, we have a lot to talk about before dinner."


	8. Vagueness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse and the Stargate 'verse belong to other people.  
> Author's Note: Written for Day 23 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.  
> A/N: Any suggestions on where to place this in SG-1? And which episode to use as Buffy's first trip through the Stargate?

Buffy's meeting with General Hammond, SG-1, and Dr. Frasier reconvened early the next morning.  
  
"Now, Miss Summers, could you please tell us what happened before you came to this reality, and then what happened after you arrived here?"  
  
Everyone was looking attentively at her, and she kind of felt like she was about to give a presentation in school but no one had told her in advance. She'd known this was coming but it was an odd feeling since it had to be heavily edited to ensure she didn't sound insane.  
  
"Of course." She swallowed surreptitiously before she began. "There was a big fight happening and I was on top of a high, rickety tower. Below it was an unstable portal, sorry, wormhole. Some kind of lightning from it was causing serious damage to stuff nearby, including making huge holes in a nearby road. I was fighting someone up there and I fell off the tower and into the wormhole, and then I blacked out." It wasn't too far from the truth except where she lied.  
  
"The next thing I remember was waking up in a wet back alley with three dead women nearby and sirens coming closer and closer. I was disoriented and confused about where I was, and it didn't take long before I blacked out again. The next time I opened my eyes I was in a bed at St. John's Hospital in Tampa."  
  
Most of them were looking at her with various levels of disbelief, and given the vagueness and the fantastic details she did give, she wasn't surprised. It was obvious to all of them that she was unwilling to go into any specific detail about her dimension.  
  
Major Carter leaned forward a little, "Where did the wormhole come from? What kind of technology was used?"  
  
"I'm not a scientist, Major Carter." Deflect, deflect, deflect.  
  
"Who did it and where did they intend to go?"  
  
Buffy briefly closed her eyes and saw Glory explaining why she needed to sacrifice Dawn to get back to her hell dimension in her usual angry and entitled fashion. Buffy pushed the memory away.  
  
"There was a crazy woman from another dimension who wanted to go home, and she didn't care about the cost or the risk, or what consequences her actions had for anyone else. All that mattered to her was her and what she wanted or needed."  
  
Daniel frowned at her, "You're leaving out a lot of important details, aren't you?"  
  
"I am," lying about that was pointless. It was too obvious and she was trying to get these people to trust her, but it was hard when she couldn't tell them the full truth. "But it doesn't matter. What happened there won't happen here and I can't go home, so..."  
  
General Hammond interrupted her staring contest with the archeologist, "Yesterday, you implied you had been compromised by someone from your reality; Explain."  
  
"I haven't been compromised!" Buffy defended herself. "It was a one-time communication where it was sort-of explained to me why I was sent here instead of the dimension she was trying to get to."   
  
"That implies that whoever 'they' are can somehow communicate across realities, AND they somehow know classified information from other realities."  
  
Buffy blinked at Daniel. "I hadn't thought of it that way..." She hadn't and it was creepy. It meant the PTB could spy on many different realities even if they couldn't interfere. Daniel just kept staring at her. "From what I was told, it was a one-time communication and they wouldn't be able to do it again. I'm on my own."  
  
"Let's say we believe you, what did whoever it was you were talking to tell you about us?"  
  
"Not much," she admitted. "They're all about the vagueness and figuring out the connections yourself. Mainly they said I should go with Jack to Colorado, let Dr. Frasier do her tests, get the education I told you about yesterday, and I should make sure to get a job here." She quickly reviewed what she said, then added. "They didn't tell me what you were doing here, but that it would help with my itchiness to fight, and it was implied that the reason I seem to suddenly be related to Jack and Sara would become clear in a few years. And some kind of offer resulting from it that I should take."  
  
"That's a lot of shoulda, woulda, coulda's," Jack commented from diagonally across the table. "And not a lot of hard facts to go on, especially if 'they' were the ones to send you here for a reason."  
  
"I was a warrior in my dimension, and while I'm going to pretend to be a normal person in public, just like I pretended back home, I'm going to be a warrior when they can't see me. Fighting evil aliens will do that."  
  
They kept looking at her, so she continued. "I couldn't stay in my reality because I fell into the wormhole, but the messenger told me They wanted me to continue my work here, as it were." She shrugged her shoulders a little.  
  
"Were these... communications," Carter hesitated slightly on the last word, "common for you in your reality?"  
  
"More infrequent, and yes, they were vague back then, too. Even vaguer than this last one was, and they didn't necessarily make sense until after everything was done."  
  
General Hammond spoke up again. "So they didn't tell you why you're here or what you are supposed to be doing. They didn't specify what your orders were at all?"  
  
"I don't take orders from them or anyone else. Free will and all that." Given what the Watcher's Council did to Slayers who didn't conform, it wasn't free will, just an illusion. "It's more of a 'stop this or something incredibly bad will happen'."  
  
"They do not appear to have your best interest in mind, Buffy Summers," Teal'c commented.  
  
"Not really. We fight, die, get replaced. There are a lot more where I came from." She shook her head when he opened his mouth to ask more questions. He took the hint and closed it again.  
  
"You're asking us to take a lot of faith. There's no proof of any of this." Major Carter was skeptical of her, but then again nothing of this could be proven under a microscope and that was her thing.  
  
"I can prove my ability to fight if General Hammond allows a sparring match. I'll even consent to fight against a regular human first so you can see for yourself that I really can do what I claim."  
  
She looked over to the man in question, and unlike yesterday he seemed to be seriously considering her request. "Setting this up will either prove my point or disprove it, you don't have anything to lose except a little time away from all your paperwork." Most of the people around the table smiled at the last part.  
  
"Ah, come on, General," Jack said into the silence. "We'll either get a great fighter out of this or a bit of entertainment. And even then, if she proves herself right, you can still think about it for a couple of years since she has to finish college before she can start full time."  
  
Hammond made up his mind. "Very well, I'll have a sparring match set up in the gym in one hour. Dismissed."  
  
The elder of the officers rose, and Jack and Carter rose with him. General Hammond then entered his office while the rest of them remained in the Briefing Room.  
  
Buffy smiled happily at no one in particular. "I get my sparring match!"  
  
"Yes, Buffy, you get your sparring match, but you still have to prove you're as good as you claim," Daniel said in a doubtful voice. "And you'll probably have to prove it against someone other than Teal'c first."  
  
"That's fine. I need to get back to my cell to change into something more appropriate."  
  
"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Jack exclaimed. "You're staying in one of our guest quarters, not a cell."  
  
The Slayer just raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, "It's a room that's locked from the outside, there's a guard on the door, and I'm not allowed to go anywhere by myself." She gave him a pointed look. "That's a cell or a prison. Whichever."  
  
"She has a point, Jack," Daniel commented. "It's a cell until Hammond gives her permission to move around freely."  
  
Jack sighed but didn't contest the statement again. "Let's go to your cell so you can change and then get to the gym."  
  
"After you," Buffy replied cheerfully. Jack just shook his head and took the lead.   
  
They took the elevator down to Sub Level 25 where all of them except Dr. Frasier got out. The good doctor remained inside and continued down to Sub Level 21, where both the Infirmary and the Gym were located.


	9. Sparring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline: BtVS: Post-The Gift and not decided for SG1.  
> Disclaimer: The Buffyverse and the Stargate 'verse belong to other people.
> 
> Author's Note: Written for Day 27 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.  
> A/N: I'm terrible at writing fight scenes, so my apologies in advance. Also, I ran out of time.

The gym turned out to be much smaller than Buffy had hoped, but she could do close quarters, it just wasn't how she would've preferred it. The room had various machines meant for exercise, along with the usual blue gym mats on the floor she was used to seeing.  
  
General Hammond was already there when she arrived with SG-1, as was Dr. Frasier. No one was else was present given how small the room was. Members of the military trained here, shouldn't it be large?  
  
A few minutes later a tall-ish man entered the room, dressing in workout clothes. It was clearly the person General Hammond had chosen for her to spar against. The man was neither tall nor short. His hair was medium brown and his eyes were an average brown. The muscles under his t-short bore testament to how often he worked out, but he was pretty much average and forgettable. Based on his appearance he would've made a good spy as he could've blended in most places.  
  
"Now that everyone's here, let's start." General Hammond announced. "Miss Summers and Captain Michelet, if you would get on the mat?"  
  
The two of them walked onto the mat and did some warm-ups before they declared themselves ready.  
  
"Remember," Hammond warned them, "This is a sparring match, not a real fight."   
  
"Yes, Sir!" the captain dutifully replied.  
  
Buffy just smiled and said, "I promised I wouldn't hurt him too much."  
  
The bald man chose to ignore her comment, but she got weak smiles from Sam and Daniel.  
  
General Hammond started them and Captain Michelet immediately tried for a quick take-town. Buffy stepped to the side and when he moved forward faster than he had expected she kicked him behind the knees and he went down in surprise.  
  
"Nice try, Captain, but I'm not a novice." He gave her a small glare, proving he had thought this would be easy. He most likely saw it as an easy way to impress his commanding officer.  
  
She allowed him to keep trying and just moved out of the way right before he would've made contact. When he got frustrated she moved in close, kicked him behind the knee again, and then 'helped' him go down faster by hitting him over the shoulders. Then she moved out of his reach while he got back up again.  
  
Five minutes after getting him down on the mat for the second time, she caught his hand, forced it behind his back as she held it straight so he had the choice of either kneeling or risk breaking his own arm. "Do you yield?" She was bored, even Riley had been better. Riley had also hidden how upset he was at being beaten by her much better than this.  
  
"No!" She let him up, and they kept it up for another ten minutes. He didn't manage to land a single blow on her, but she kept hitting him. He was going to be bruised, and it wasn't just his ego. At the ten-minute mark, she grabbed his arm, flipped him up over herself, and threw him down. When he landed with a whoosh as the air expelled from his lungs, she was on him right away, securing one of his hands behind his back.  
  
"How about now? Do you yield?"  
  
"Yes, yes! I yield! Get off me!" Well, he wasn't going to be friendly towards her after this. With that ego, he would probably be a major problem in the field. Given the looks he was receiving from their audience, she was certain she wasn't the only one who had come to that conclusion. Hopefully, he was base personnel and not on one of the gate teams Daniel had talked about.  
  
"That's enough, Miss Summers!" The General commanded. She let go of the arms and rose from her half-kneeling position and moved away. Michelet got up as well, trying to catch his breath. The two officers spoke for a minute then the Captain was dismissed.  
  
"Can I spar with Teal'c now?"  
  
"In a few minutes." She smiled happily.  
  
"Were you pulling your punches against Captain Michelet, Miss Summers?  
  
She raised an eyebrow, "Of course. If you're worried about him, it's just some bruising. Nothing worse than if he had been going up against someone his own size."   
  
"How did you manage to lift him over your head?" Sam asked, most likely interested in the technicalities she couldn't explain.  
  
"I told you, I'm a lot stronger than I look. A. Lot." The back and forth continued until Hammond gave his wristwatch a pointed look.  
  
"Teal'c, if you're ready?"  
  
The tall, black alien inclined his head in a positive response. "I am ready, General Hammond."  
  
"Then get on the mat and let's see if Miss Summers is as good as she claims."  
  
Buffy bounced a little on her toes, waiting for him to get ready. When he was on the mat, Hammond gave the okay and they were off.  
  
He started with a few easy moves to see her reaction and she responded in kind, but soon they were both using more force than they would've done with regular people. They also moved faster. It quickly became obvious that he wasn't that much faster than a normal human, but his punches, when they made contact, were definitely more powerful.  
  
They traded blows, sometimes making contact but mostly not. He tried for a take-down a few times but failed. She tried and managed to get him down on one knee on the fourth attempt. She grinned and backed off. She'd found a weakness and had every intention of exploiting it.  
  
Except when she tried to take him down all the way, he grabbed her arms and threw her over his shoulder when she didn't expect it. She was surprised enough that she didn't use the opportunity to kick him once she was behind him. Instead, she flipped in the air and landed on her feet.  
  
Smiling, she told him, "Well done. That was my bad." He merely inclined his head again. They continued, and, just to make a point, she grabbed the much taller and heavier man and flipped him up in the air and over herself. He didn't manage to land as gracefully as she had, but he broke the fall and rolled so he got right back up on his feet. Buffy nodded in approval.  
  
Teal'c reminded her a little of Angel. Neither of them was willing to use more strength than necessary when sparring with her, but at least she got something of a workout. Something told her that when this man saw her in real action he wouldn't be so gentle the next time they sparred. She could wait.   
  
When the match hit the 30-minute mark, Jack yelled "Three minutes!"  
  
Buffy and Teal'c both took it as a challenge and went for it. She knocked him down on both knees but he got up too soon and he threw her away from him. He used more strength this time and she was moving fast towards the wall. Rather than smash into it she turned in the air and ran a few steps sideways on the wall before allowing gravity to guide her back down on the floor.  
  
Taking advantage of the shock, she put on extra speed and flipped him over and down on the ground. Like with Michelet before, she took his arm and bent it behind his back. "Do you yield?"  
  
He struggled and attempted to get her off, but she responded by straightening his arm. With one small hand holding his wrist in a vice grip and the other pushing his elbow to keep it straight, she had a knee in his back, so if he moved to much he ran the risk of breaking the arm. "I yield."  
  
Buffy released the arm and got up before she gave him a hand to help him up. He graciously accepted.  
  
"That was fun, but I would've preferred to have kept going. Some other time, maybe?" The last part was asked a little hopefully. He was a good fighter, strong, and didn't seem to take issue with her gender or size. Those were definite points in his favor.  
  
"I would be honored to spar with you again, Buffy Summers. The Tau'ri are not as strong as the Jaffa, and these practises would be most beneficial."  
  
She gave him a genuine smile. "Thank you, I'm looking forward to it already. But what's a tari?"  
  
"A Tau'ri is a human from the planet your people refer to as Earth."  
  
"Oh, okay, then."  
  
She turned to their audience. "So, did I prove my point, or was it just entertainment?"  
  
"You have proven your point, Miss Summers." General Hammond replied. "We will need to get a better assessment of your abilities at a later point, but for now take a shower and get some dinner. I need to discuss this with those higher up the chain of command."  
  
He nodded to everyone and left. When he was out of earshot, she said to no one in particular. "That was a little anti-climactic."  
  
"I'm sure there's going to be a lot of question later when he's had time to process what he just witnessed," Daniel said. "You'll also have to prove all of your abilities."  
  
Sam laughed a little. "I can't believe you were able to lift Teal'c, let alone throw him."  
  
"That was just to show off a little, but I can lift a small car if I need to and he isn't that heavy."  
  
The conversation continued as Sam followed her over to the showers. The men followed Teal'c.


	10. Alpha Site

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Written for Day 30 of the 2020 August Fic-A-Day.

Three days after she sparred against Captain Michelet and Teal'c, she was approved to go off-world for further testing. More specifically, she was permitted to go to the Alpha Site with SG-1, Dr. Frasier, and a few other personnel who were to help with the actual testing.  
  
As they were waiting for the Stargate to dial, Buffy, kept staring at the Gate lost in her own thoughts. The structure was reminding her of something, but whatever it was it remained just out of reach. It had bothered her since the first time she had laid eyes on it.  
  
The wormhole whooshed out, and while she had seen it before a couple of times, it had been from up in the Stargate Operations Room or the Briefing Room not from down in the Embarkation Room. The effect was more impressive when she was standing this close and she could hear the sounds without using her abilities through bulletproof glass, concrete, and technology. She also had to look up rather than down at the 'water' splashing out and then retracting.  
  
“It's amazing, isn't it?”  
  
Buffy smiled up at the taller woman, "Yes, it is."  
  
"You look contemplative. What's up? Are you nervous about the testing at the Alpha Site?"  
  
"No. I have this vague feeling I've seen the Stargate somewhere before, but it looked a little different. I just can't figure out where I saw it."  
  
Up in the S.O.R., General Hammond gave them the go-ahead to leave and they began walking up the ramp. When she got close to the event horizon she couldn't control her curiosity and stopped right before it. She reached out her hand and touched the 'water', only to get it proven it wasn't wet at all. It didn't feel like much of anything other than concentrated energy. She gave a mental shrug and walked through, Sam and Teal'c at her back.  
  
When she emerged on the other she set foot on a different planet for the first time. Alternate Earth's not counting. According to Daniel, its military designation was P3X-984 but generally referred to as the Alpha Site. The Stargate stood on a raised stone dais with steps leading down.  
  
"Maybe you saw it in your reality, or heard someone talk about it," Sam commented as they walked down the stairs to where everyone else was waiting for them.  
  
"No, I'm positive I've never seen a real Stargate before." She frowned, "Maybe it was a drawing..."  
  
"Okay, kids." Jack interrupted, "Let's get this show on the road."  
  
From what she could see of the base it looked like any other military base or row of warehouses. Nothing special or anything that screamed 'alien!'. No blue sun, no purple bushes, and no multi-colored grass. There weren't even any strange-looking animals. It could've been anywhere or nowhere.  
  
The five men who had accompanied them had left to set up whatever it was they needed for the testing, and Dr. Frasier had gone to the medical bay. The rest of them began walking inside as well.  
  
General Hammond had explained the tests to her before they left. They wanted to see how fast she could run, how hard she could hit something, how much weight she could lift and throw, and how far away she could sense a symbiote or a former host. The latter was the reason SG-1 had been permitted to tag along. It would've been preferable to have a Tok'ra there as well so they could've tested how her senses reacted to a symbiote who was in control rather than maturing in a Jaffa's pouch, but Jacob Carter, Sam's father, had been unavailable and the SGC didn't want any of the other Tok'ra to know where the Alpha Site was located.  
  
Someone high up somewhere had decided they should use half a day to test each of those skills, so they were cleared to stay for two days. Which meant she spent five hours running around like a maniac. First in short distances, then longer and longer. When they were finally done, she had to curb the desire to eat quickly.  
  
Next up was to check how hard she could hit something. It began with a fancy machine for a couple of hours, but she was afraid to break it so went easy on it. Then they went back outside where she literally began cracking rocks. It was a good thing she was a fast healer as she bloodied her hands and knuckles several times, and in a way that proved another of her skills.  
  
Then it was another meal and an early bedtime.  
  
After breakfast the next morning, it was back to another machine for an hour before they went outside again. This time she lifted rocks instead of breaking them. Some of the rocks she was asked to carry for varying distances, others she was told to throw. It didn't escape her notice that they were all moved to the same general area to be away from the buildings.  
  
In the evening she was blindfolded and lead away from the camp, and she spent several hours finding her way to the various members of their group through the unfamiliar terrain. In between, she was to alert her 'team leader' when she sensed either Sam or Teal'c and then tell him where she sensed it and how far away.  
  
At the conclusion, that night she was checked over by Dr. Frasier to make sure she was unharmed by the ordeal. Then they packed up, ate a quick meal, and returned to Stargate Command. Buffy was a little disappointed that nothing out of the ordinary happened, but at least the men who did the testing weren't scared off or offended by what she could do. It was a point in their favor.  
  
After they were back on Earth and had gone through the mandatory medical check-up, they had to go through a debriefing. They just summarized the tasks she had been set, how she'd done, and made sure everyone agreed.  
  
"I guess this is as good a time as any," Buffy said at the end while looking at Sam. "I finally remembered where I've seen the Stargate before."  
  
The Major sat up straighter, "And? Where do you recognize it from?"  
  
"Back in my dimension, I had a kind of mentor, I guess you'd call him. He was a lot like Daniel in that he loves old books and knowledge. Just more with the tweed and the English accent." Daniel perked up as well. "One of the books had three drawings of a Stargate, one where it was powered down, one where it was 'whooshing', and a third where it was active."  
  
Buffy looked around the table and everyone was attentively paying attention to her, even Jack. "I don't remember all the text, but I do remember that it called the Stargate for the Astria Porta and something about people leaving through it because of a disease, I think."  
  
It had been one of the Watcher's Diaries, from a long, long time ago and it kept referring to the Gate as magical or mystical. It also said the Astria Porta transferred people to other planes of existence and then returned them, sometimes, or something like that. And while the text hadn't come out and said it directly, it implied the Watcher had believed that the people who went through the Stargate had been some kind of elevated beings rather than humans. With no base of reference, it must've made them look like something god-like or an act performed by someone very talented in magic.  
  
"Oh," Buffy added as she just remembered more details, "and the lights around the edge were a light blue/green instead of a reddish yellow. The design also seemed more sleek and modern."  
  
"If these were drawings or paintings then there's probably some artistic license at play here. Way back when people would exaggerate or use the colors available to them rather than make their renderings accurate." Daniel postulated.  
  
"Unlikely. The organization the author belonged to insisted on the accuracy, so probably not."  
  
Daniel kind of stared at her, and he wasn't the only one. "How do you know that?"  
  
"I kinda, sorta belonged to it, but not really?" They stared some more. "It's complicated and not relevant. I just thought you might want to know that the Stargate exist where I come from, too."  
  
"Do you remember anything else from this entry?"  
  
"No, General. I read it a long time ago and just dismissed it as something fantastical or made-up by some bored person. And irrelevant to me. I only remembered it now since I know the Stargates are real."  
  
"Very well, dismissed."  
  
She was cornered by the two resident geeks as soon as Hammond had left to return to his office. The two of them more or less herded her back to Daniel's office, where she was likely to spend hours trying to wrestle more out of her memory.  
  
Jack and Teal'c left mostly unnoticed by the three of them.  
  
It was okay. This wasn't her reality, Jack and Sara weren't her parents, but she could build a life here. The memory of the Stargate in one of Giles' books might be real or something the PTB placed there before sending her away, but it didn't matter. She was here now, soon she would be back in college and studying dead languages, and the SGC would be waiting in the wings for her to graduate.  
  
After graduation, there was the offer her mother had hinted about. She would gain new friends in school and hopefully at the SGC as well. This was her life now, and hopefully, everyone back home was doing well.


End file.
